this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. ten million per cent inflation. the scale of the economic crisis facing venezuela — as the standoff between the government and opposition continues. plus: we have to level the playing field. the new boss of goldman sachs tells us he supports president trump's stand against china over trade. that's the latest from the world economic forum in davos. and on the markets, asian shares on the rise after a rally in us tech stocks. crude jumping on the prospect of oil sanctions on venezuela. and the pound on track for its best week in over a year — as uk prime minister theresa may faces growing pressure to rule out a no—deal brexit. we start in venezuela, which faces a deepening economic

crisis, as the standoff continues between president nicolas maduro and opposition leaderjuan guaido. the us, together with many other nations, is recognising mr guaido as interim president and vowing to cut off the existing government's source of revenue. that could take the form of further sanctions according to president trump. venezuela already faces various restrictions on accessing us financial markets. but not, so far, on its vital oil industry. oil makes up 95% of venezuela's revenue and the us is the biggest customer. more than half of that revenue, though, goes straight back out again to service debts. venezuelans already face spiralling prices for everyday goods. the international monetary fund predicts inflation will rise to 10 million percent this year. it's already at 1.3 million percent. the government introduced a new currency last year — the sovereign bolivar — knocking five zeros off the existing currency to mask the effects of inflation.

but it has already slumped to more than 630 to the us dollar. carlos pascual is a former us diplomat and economic affairs analyst. he spoke to the bbc at the world economic forum in davos about the scale of the crisis facing venezuela. i think ithink in i think in a situation where you have inflation rate in such astronomical numbers that it's impossible to even say what they are, you hear stories about people going to gasoline station and paying with a banana because it more value than the currency, that venezuelans are desperate. they need to see change, they want to see a country which is prosperous, they know that they have re— sources that can make them rich and so it is hard at a certain point to maintain a fiction

that if the outside world making venezuelans pour that if the outside world making venezuela ns pour —— that if the outside world making venezuelans pour —— that it is the outside world making venezuela poor. eileen gavin is senior latin america analyst at the risk consultants verisk maplecroft trump has recognised guaido — but is there any prospect of the us imposing sanctions where it would really hurt — on venezuelan oil? it's hard to get your head around the scale of the challenge facing the scale of the challenge facing the people. and also how the situation improves. what changes now? a couple of key developments yesterday. one was that the military came out in defence of the government. second was that the government. second was that the government said it was willing to dialogue and finally, juan guaido last night said he would come out in support of the entire community. tensions are still high today. what

needs to happen now is that everyone has to take a step back and begin dialogue because it is the only way through the situation. it's very febrile and very, very difficult. the us has been talking about putting sanctions on venezuela that in effect, what it has done in recognising it venezuela, it is it in effect sanctions because it means that the us is looking to divert the resources from venezuelan oil exports, for instance, tojuan guaido. how that will happen is difficult to see but it has backed them into a corner so they will have to be some sort of dialogue. on the other side of that, you have russia and china backing nicolas maduro. how significant is that backing? russia and china, still key players and also the military supports nicolas maduro. what really changes from here? they will have to be dialogue. it is the only way through. the situation is, it could

colla pse through. the situation is, it could collapse into a civil war. the military doesn't want to be responsible for that and neither does the us. what you think are the prospects of oil sanctions on venezuela? prospects of oil sanctions on venezuela ? presumably it prospects of oil sanctions on venezuela? presumably it would cripple an economy already on its knees or could there be other customers, apart from the us? the fa ct customers, apart from the us? the fact is that 80% of the cash reve nu es fact is that 80% of the cash revenues that venezuela generates from oil comes from the us so sanctions on us, on venezuela on oil exports will be devastating but they will also affect the us. there is a feeling that the us government wouldn't want to do something that drastic but in fact, in recognising juan guaido and saying they will try to divert resources from oil sales should go to government accounts, that they will directed to juan guaido by some means, that is in effect, the us pushing for a way

through without taking that step of putting actual sanctions on oil exports. let's go to the swiss ski resort of davos now, where the trade war between the us and china is one of the big issues concerning global business leaders at this year's world economic forum. as the new boss of investment giant goldman sachs — david solomon is one of the most powerful figures in global finance. he told our business editor simonjack that he wants to see a more level playing field for us firms dealing with china — and supports the stand the trump administration is taking. i think one of the things will be dealing with is china as an up—and—coming economy that has become much bigger and much more important. the us has obviously been the economic leaderfor a important. the us has obviously been the economic leader for a long important. the us has obviously been the economic leaderfor a long time and there are a handful of issues with which the us and china are in conflict. the us would like to see

china opening up its markets more quickly, it would like some protection with respect to property rights and technology. the process of resolving these issues and moving forward a long with the issues on trade is something i think that will dominate the narrative between the us and china for some time. i think we will make progress but acting is something that will be part of the economic narrative for a period of time. it seems to me that the us was very happy when they were designing items in the us, assembling them in china, buying cheap seat —— cheap sneakers, but with something like while way, the us feels more come —— uncomfortable with that and some are saying it is being used as a smokescreen? i think there have been in balances in the way that the us and china have been dealing with each other. i think the focus is that we need to level the playing field. china is making a big

investment in a variety of products, services and technology and in the us, we want to see a level playing field and we want to see our technology and our investment over at period time, protected and we need to navigate through it. at period time, protected and we need to navigate through itm at period time, protected and we need to navigate through it. it does iq need to navigate through it. it does io were supportive of the trump narrative? ——it sounds like you are supportive. we need to move forward. i think there has been a change with us business leaders over the course of the last couple of years recognising it is time to make progress and i think the administration is appropriately focused on these issues. donald trump said winning trade wars is easy. is it easy? is he winning?” think traders are part of a dialogue —— that trade is a part of the dialogue. the dialogue we are having is part of it. we need to get this issue resolved so we can move forward. i think it is important. from a market perspective, if you don't move forward and resolve it

and remove down the road of higher tariffs, it it could impact on economic growth. let's go to asia now. and police in hong kong have announced the arrest of 14 people in the biggest ever gold bullion scam. according to press reports — some investors have been tricked out of millions of dollars. sharanjit leyl is following the story in singapore. it is quite an extraordinary story. one of the victims was an 85—year—old man who was conned out ofa 85—year—old man who was conned out of a whopping $74 million over two yea rs! of a whopping $74 million over two years! he has become hong kong's biggest victim of this trading scam. he was one of seven investors who lost big in this scam which involved trading gold on the london commodities market. hong kong confirmed the arrest of 14 people related to deception in a statement which was put out to bloomberg news. they declined to comment on the

specifics about this 85—year—old victim. the so—called london gold fraud has been around hong kong for many years now and according to the website, the fraudsters lure their victims into precious metal transactions and then ask the victims to deposit the money into an investment account & documents authorising third parties to trade on their behalf. the victims lose all their capital as an result. and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. on the wall street journal, airlines warn shutdown strains are worsening. some of the biggest u.s airlines warning passengers will soon face worse delays and more cancelled flights if the partial federal government shutdown drags on further. wall street is proposing a 70% tax on the super rich. lots more coming up on the super rich. lots more coming up but! on the super rich. lots more coming up but i now, that is your business briefing. scientists from the university

of cambridge say they've found the secret behind why some people stay effortlessly slim. they think it's not necessarily because they have a healthier lifestyle, but that they've got a natural genetic advantage. the hope is that this could have long—term implications for tackling obesity. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. we are all dealt a certain genetic hand of cards at birth affecting everything from how we look to how oui’ everything from how we look to how our bodies work. so it's no real surprise that this includes weight. we have known for several years that some genetic changes mean people are more likely to become obese. but this study looked at why others are

naturally slim. researchers recruited more than 1500 people in the uk who are thin and healthy but don't do huge amounts of exercise. they looked at their dna and competitive people who are severely obese and a larger group of others who are a normal weight. a found that the slim ones are not necessarily more disciplined but that they have the luckiest set of genes will stop the flipside is that the obese people have the genetic dice loaded against them. —— set of genes. the flipside. people who struggle with their weight know they struggle with their weight know they struggle with their weight. they found it hard to lose weight after they have tried many things. it gives people an explanation as to why that happens. the team wants to pinpoint the exact genes and biological workings that keep people thin. when and if that happens, they wa nt to thin. when and if that happens, they want to target them in new weight loss strategies. but for now, there is no way to change the cards you've been dealt so the advice is to eat a

healthy diet, gets plenty of exercise. for more on that story, charlie stayt and naga munchetty will be speaking to the report's lead researcher at cambridge university, professor sadaf fa rooqi. plus, they'll also speak to rachel murray, who's had a gastric band fitted. that's breakfast coming at 6 o'clock. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: venezuela closes its embassy in the united states as nicolas maduro accuses donald trump of trying to overthrow him. 10 million per cent inflation. in business briefing, we're looking at the scale of the economic crisis facing venezuela as the stand—off between the government and opposition continues. protests have taken place in athens as the greek parliament votes on whether to accept the name of its neighbour as the republic of north macedonia. now it's time to look at stories making headlines around the world we begin with venezuelan

newspaper el nacional, leading with the country's leadership crisis. this headline reads ‘trump opted for venezuela, how far will the game go?‘. indeed! the us is backing opposition leader juan guaido but russia and china are standing by president nicolas maduro. the times' front page has the queen calling for an end to political divisions caused by brexit. staying with brexit, the financial times looks at big businesses like airbus and siemens putting pressure on the british pm to avoid leaving the eu with no deal. the daily telegraph says mothers in the uk returning from maternity leave may soon have an extra six months ofjob security. it follows a study which found one in nine women had been fired or made redundant after returning to work. the guardian looks at a so—called

military build—up in the arctic with melting ice opening shipping lanes and heating up competition for strategic northern borders. and finally in the washington post, it's now 2 minutes to midnight, according to scientists in charge of the world's doomsday clock. the clock is a measure of threats to humanity, including nuclear risk and climate change. it's the closest the clock has been to doom since 1953. it's been keeping track of our progress or decline since 1947. how depressing! i don't really where